I've tried Neem oil sprays on other things before (black spot, apple maggot) but this year I've been spraying my squash. I just learned that adding a surfactant, like dish soap, can make it more effective. So far, I've sprayed three times this month, and have noticed a definite reduction of squash bug eggs, juveniles, and adults.

Neem oil is consistent with organic gardening.

I had been spraying olive oil on corn silks to keep ear worms away. Noticed squash bugs on a couple of plants. I sprayed the olive oil on them and haven't seen any for a week.

Try useing Tansy planted in with the squash. You can also use the leaves to make a tea to spray elsewhere.

Besides finding and smashing eggs on the underside of leaves, I spray squash plants early in the morning with water from the garden hose. They all come crawling up the leaf stems, to escape the water, I assume, and I then hand pick and smash them. If I am diligent, this does keep the numbers, and damage, well down.

Also the squash bug and the squash vine borer are two different insects. The squash bug feeds on the leaves and fruit. The squash vine borer bores into the stem causing the plants to wilt. If you see what looks like sawdust around the stem base this is the vine borer. You can slit the stem with a knife and remove the borer then cover stem with dirt or inject Bt into the stem.

The squash bug does not spread bacterial wilt disease, that is spread by the cucumber beetles. The squash bug suck the nutrients from the plants disrupting the flow of water and nutrients causing the plants to wilt and eventually turn black. This looks like bacterial wilt, but if the bugs are controlled the plants should come back. Bacterial wilt cannot be cured. Cucumber beetles will also feed on squash and other cucurbits spreading the disease. You can try and lay boards or cardboard down for the night and kill the bugs that congregate underneath the boards in the morning. Hand picking or pyrethrin if nothing else works. Make sure to destroy the squash bug eggs also. They lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves. The eggs will be brownish-yellow to brick red color layed in a v pattern.

THNX Bret, Nancy, & Sukey, If I get any squash bugs/borers this year I'll try your great methods. I love zukes, esp. and want to try some delicata, etc. So now I'm armed and ready to roll!! Predators, LOOK OUT!!!!!!!

An old timer here takes rhubarb leaves and makes a tea (toxic) and pours it on the ground around the plant. She says she never has squash bugs.

I find planting squash with mint helps a lot with keeping the bug population down.

I have found that a mild solution of household amonia in water poured over the vines of squash keep the vine bores away and also give a little nitrogen to the plants I have been spraying my squash with a mild liquid soap and water solotion on the leaves to to keep them free of pest and have a great crop this year. The first year that I havn't had vine bores

Whenever I move to a new home, the FIRST THING I put in my garden is PRAYING MANTID. (Peaceful Valley has the best price I've found.) They clean up a lot of the overwhelming bugs left by previous owners, so by the time I get beneficials in, the balance is easier to achieve. I absolutely love them. One rode on my car from my house to my daughter's in Yukon one time. I haven't tried squash since moving back here to MT, but when I lived in OKC, squash bugs were prolific, and squash vine borers HORRIBLE. I couldn't even raise zukes, because the squash vine borers destroyed the vines before any fruit got going. The winds were so bad and I was working, so didn't have time for row covers. The one time I tried one, it blew away almost before I could get it down. I finally gave up on squash, cauliflower, broccoli, etc. I'm just trying some cabbage this year; we'll see how it goes in our much drier climate here in MT.

I've been planting zucchini and other summer squash a bit later than usual, which seems to help. Equally important is
planting radishes and nasturtiums with/around the squash! Since doing these 2 things I've only lost one plant to squash vine borers!

When I was 10 years old living on a farm, one of my jobs was to kill the summer squash bugs. I would don cotton gloves and go searching through the squash leaves for bugs and eggs and "squash" them. Wonder if this is where squash got its name?

Anyway, there you have an organic pest control solution!

We have two ducks that have cleared our area of all bugs.

And don't forget to listen to the guineas before you get them. They can be very noisy in close proximity.

I have heard that placing boards down near the squash in the evening will attract the bugs. They go under them at night. In the morning, the boards are lifted, the bugs will need to be killed and supposedly that is that. I haven't tried this method. I prefer to use floating row covers.

Any other suggestions? Guinea hens are not a solution on my urban homestead.